Advertisement

  1. National

Commons passes Government's fiscal charter

The Government's Charter for Budget Responsibility has passed the Commons 320 to 258, majority 62, following days of bitter rows in Labour's ranks over whether to oppose the plan.

A total of 20 Labour MPs abstained from the vote.

View all 18 updates ›

Shadow Chancellor admits u-turn was 'embarrassing'

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell admitted to the Commons that his u-turn on fiscal policy was 'embarrassing'.

In the debate ahead of the vote on the Conservative economic plans, which caused clashes within Labour after McDonnell reversed his stance on the policy, he added: "But a bit of humility never goes amiss".

Introducing the fiscal charter to the House, Chancellor George Osborne urged Labour MPs to rebel against the party leadership by abstaining.

He said: "We were told when [the shadow Chancellor] got the job that he would be a divisive figure, I just didn't realise that the split would be between two opposing views both held by himself."

More on this story